Baring arms

Mark Bostridge (Letters, 11 January) takes Lester Holloway's balanced article on history curriculum changes to criticise the placing of a statue to Mary Seacole in a place significant for Florence Nightingale, missing the point that Nightingale and Seacole are both being dropped and we are losing the opportunity to compare the establishment (of which Nightingale was an influential member) and Seacole who wasn't. And to discuss diversity and equality. His fight is with Michael Gove.Dr Graham UllathorneChesterfield, Derbyshire

• How can a memorial to one nursing founder denigrate the memory of another, much better known one? Visit www.maryseacoleappeal.org.uk and consider making a donation – £159K is in the bank, but double that is still needed.Lisa Rodrigues Ambassador, Mary Seacole Statue Appeal

• Laura Wade's reference to executed British Tommies of the Great War being granted posthumous pardons (G2, 2 Janaury) is overgenerous. After 16 years' lobbying by the men's families and the Shot at Dawn campaign, in 2006 the government grudgingly conceded a conditional pardon. Instead of being damned as worthless men, the executed soldiers were merely rebranded as victims of war who did not deserve their fates. The MoD refuses to forward 1914-18 war service medals to the executed men's families and the courts-martial convictions have never been rescinded.Julian PutkowskiCo-author, Murderous Tommies

• I have no idea if Romans "get off at Prenestina" (Letters, 14 January), but it would surely be a pleasanter experience to get off the stop before at Serenissima. If they miss both, they reach Termini and have to get off whether they want to or not.David WittMalmesbury, Wiltshire

• A minor redrafting of the US constitution could help the problem with US gun laws (Report, 10 January). If the Right to Bear Arms became the Right to Bare Arms a healthier nation might ensue. Peter SmithLeeds

• So who will win the English Premier League, the US, Russia or Abu Dhabi (Sport, 14 January)?David ButlerLondon